The Anti-Semites in Obama's Neighborhood [incl. Rashid Khalidi]

In his 1997 book, "A Kind and Just Parent," Bill Ayers walked the reader through his Hyde Park neighborhood and identified the notable residents therein.

Among them was "Minister" Louis Farrakhan, of whom he wrote fondly, and "writer" Barack Obama. Obama respected Farrakhan as well. He attended his famous "Million Man March."

Louis "I am not anti-Semite, I am anti-termite" Farrakhan is just one of at least five – five – prominent anti-Semite friends and neighbors of Obama. In this week of pious Democratic finger pointing, a quick review is in order.

Perhaps the least well-known of the five may have been the most helpful in Obama's advance. In March 2008, veteran New York politico Percy Sutton appeared on a local New York City talk show.

When asked about Obama by the show's host, Dominic Carter, the octogenarian Sutton casually explained that he had been "introduced to [Obama] by a friend." The friend's name was Dr. Khalid al-Mansour, and the introduction had taken place about 20 years prior.

According to Sutton, al-Mansour was "raising money" for Obama's education and had asked him to "please write a letter in support of [Obama] … a young man that has applied to Harvard." Sutton did just that.

Sutton described al-Mansour as "the principal adviser to one of the world's richest men," Saudi prince Al-Waleed bin Talal.

This was the same bin-Talal whose $10 million offer to help New York rebuild after 9/11 Mayor Rudy Giuliani rebuffed. In September 2001, Giuliani was in no mood to hear out "Israel knew" theories even from a benefactor.

Like his patron, Khalid al-Mansour was no friend of Israel. In one of his typical videotaped rants, "A Little on the History of Jews," he scolded the world's Ashkenazi Jews: "God gave you nothing. The children from Poland and Russia were promised nothing. But they are stealing the land the same as the Christians stole the lands from the Indians in America."

Obama pastor Jeremiah Wright was clearly no friend of Israel either. According to Wright, "The ethnic cleansing of the Zionists is a sin and a crime against humanity."

During the 2008 campaign, when his anti-American, anti-Israel rants began to surface, Wright hoped to speak with Obama but was unable. As he said at the time, "Them Jews aint gonna let him talk to me." The media pretended not to notice.

In 2014, Politico was describing Al Sharpton as "President Barack Obama's go-to man" to the black community. Sharpton had a feel for community sentiments.

In 1991, it was this same go-to man who poured fuel on the lethal Crown Heights riots with the rallying cry, "If Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house."

At the height of the disturbances, which started after an Orthodox Jew accidentally ran over a black child, Sharpton led a march through Crown Heights. His followers were carrying anti-Semitic signs and burning Israeli flags. Some were shouting, "Death to the Jews."

During this pogrom, several Jews were seriously injured, and one Orthodox Jewish man was killed. There were no apologies from Sharpton.

Then, too, there is the case of Obama's Hyde Park Palestinian friend and neighbor Rashid Khalidi. In 2003, Obama attended a dinner in Khalidi's honor. One guest recited a poem accusing the Israel government of terrorism and threatened that "will never see a day of peace." Another compared Jewish settlers to Osama bin Laden.

If worse was said, or if Obama applauded, the world has not yet found out. The Los Angeles Times, which has a copy of the event video, resolutely refused to show it or share it.

The media have continued to keep the public in the dark about Obama's relationship with his anti-Semitic friends and neighbors. In 2005, for instance, Askia Muhammad, an NPR journalist, took a photo of a smiling Barack Obama standing next to a beaming Louis Farrakhan at a gathering the of Congressional Black Caucus.

In 2018 the New Yorker described the image as "the photo that might have derailed Obama." It did not. As the New Yorker reports matter-of-factly, "After some pressure from one of the caucus's staffers, Muhammad agreed to bury it."